Local equities trade with immense losses in late afternoon session

Local equities traded near day’s low points in late afternoon session amid weakening trend in global equities. Caution persisted among investors globally as the Russia-Ukraine war continued.  Huge selling in Financial, IT and oil & gas shares dragged the markets lower. Sentiments remained down-beat, as basket of crude oil that India buys has hit a decade high of $121 per barrel, but retail selling prices of petrol and diesel continue to remain frozen. The Indian basket on June 9, 2022 touched $121.28, matching levels seen in February/March 2012. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid concerns about slowing global growth and rising interest rates. The mass testing announcements in Shanghai also sparked fears of a return to stringent, prolonged lockdowns. European markets were trading lower a day after the European Central Bank joined the growing number of central banks to cease easy-money policies.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54248.05, down by 1072.23 points or 1.94% after trading in a range of 54241.10 and 54780.78. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.73%, while Small cap index was down by 0.77%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom was up by 0.26%, while Energy down by 2.15%, IT down by 2.12%, Oil & Gas down by 2.07%, Bankex down by 1.94% and TECK was down by 1.86% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.68%, Nestle up by 0.46%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.29%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.22% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.04%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.83%, HDFC down by 3.61%, Reliance Industries down by 3.27% and Wipro down by 2.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, keeping the rating unchanged at 'BBB-', credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings in its latest report has revised the outlook on India's sovereign rating to Stable from Negative as downside risks to medium-term growth have diminished due to India's rapid economic recovery and easing financial sector weaknesses, despite near-term headwinds from the global commodity price shock.

The rating agency, however, cut the economic growth forecast to 7.8 percent for the current fiscal (April 2022 to March 2023) from the 8.5 percent prediction it made in March due to the inflationary impact of the global commodity price shock.

Meanwhile, India’s economy grew by 4.1 per cent in the January-March quarter of 2021-22 (Q4FY22), pushing the annual growth rate to 8.7 per cent on account of better performance by manufacturing, mining and construction sectors. In the previous fiscal 2020-21, the economy had contracted by 6.6 per cent as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted business activities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16188.90, down by 289.20 points or 1.76% after trading in a range of 16181.75 and 16324.70. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.50%, Grasim Industries up by 0.99%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.45%, Nestle up by 0.39% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.00%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.84%, HDFC down by 3.60%, Hindalco down by 3.39% and Reliance Industries down by 3.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 422.24 points or 1.49% to 27,824.29, Taiwan Weighted dropped 161.22 points or 0.97% to 16,460.12, Jakarta Composite lost 96.18 points or 1.34% to 7,086.65, Hang Seng decreased 62.87 points or 0.29% to 21,806.18, Straits Times trembled 30.23 points or 0.94% to 3,179.39 and KOSPI was down by 29.57 points or 1.13% to 2,595.87. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 45.88 points or 1.42% to 3,284.83.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 78.95 points or 1.06% to 7,397.26, France’s CAC decreased 87.25 points or 1.37% to 6,271.21 and Germany’s DAX was down by 223.79 points or 1.58% to 13,975.01.